Table of Contents
- Default
- Attack
- Special
- Injured




Ike - Young Mercenary |
---|
|
Related Heroes
Hero Stats
Stat Variations
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 17 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
Middle | 18 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 5 |
High | 19 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 6 |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 39 | 32 | 28 | 29 | 14 |
Middle | 42 | 35 | 31 | 32 | 18 |
High | 45 | 38 | 34 | 35 | 21 |
IV Sets
Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible. | |
Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase. | |
Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature. |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES |
---|---|---|---|---|
Assets
-
+ATK: Ideal particularly for Heavy Blade builds, but is also good for any other build if Ike has access to team support (Speed buffs).
-
+SPD: Primarily allows Ike to avoid more doubles from enemies with middling speed. It becomes gradually less useful with more team support.
-
+DEF: Ike’s Defense stat is the main thing that he has over Ryoma. An Asset here will increase his ability to tank physical threats.
Neutral
-
HP: Ideally would be left at neutral to avoid hurting Ike’s physical bulk and ability to stay within the Quick Riposte HP threshold. However, a -HP IV will not be too detrimental to Ike’s performance in combat.
Flaws
- -RES: Ike has just enough magical bulk to be able to survive a single hit from most green and some red mages, even with a Flaw in Resistance. Lowering this stat will not have a significant impact on the vast majority of his matchups.
Skill Sets
Steady Defender (Defensive Tank)
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Steady Breath |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Quick Riposte 3 |
![]() |
Ignis Alternate: Aether |
C | Threaten Def 3 Alternate: Threaten Atk 3 |
SP | 1,545 | S | Close Def 3 |
- Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK or +DEF / -RES
- Weapon: Ragnell
- Assist: Reposition
- Special: Ignis / Aether
- Passive A: Steady Breath / Warding Breath
- Passive B: Quick Riposte / Guard / Wrath / Swordbreaker
- Passive C: Threaten Def / Varies on Team
- Sacred Seal: Close Def / Distant Def / Atk Smoke / Quick Riposte
This is an Enemy Phase build that revolves around utilizing the increased Special charges from Steady Breath or Warding Breath. Steady Breath is better due to Ike being much better suited to handling physical threats than magical ones, but Warding Breath will work if it’s the only one available - the increased Special charge is the most important factor.
Ignis will do more damage than Aether, in addition to being more consistent due to having a 4 cooldown. With Steady Breath or Warding Breath, Ike will be able to activate Ignis on every combat that the enemy initiates, assuming that he is able to double. Aether will not be able to activate every combat unless Ike gets doubled; it’s best to not allow Ike to get doubled if possible to minimize damage taken. Not being able to activate Aether isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since Ike will have it prepared on the next combat, allowing him to maximize the healing gained from it.
Quick Riposte is essential on Ike - he does not have enough speed to consistently double without it. If running it in his B slot, then Close Def, Distant Def, and Atk Smoke are all good options to increase his overall tankiness. If running the Quick Riposte seal, then Guard is a good option to help protect him against enemies with powerful Specials like Zelgius or Ayra. Wrath allows him to hit incredibly hard with his Specials; it synergizes particularly well with Aether due to the increased damage resulting in increased healing, as well as the Special cooldown reduction making Aether a bit easier to activate. Ike’s base Swordbreaker is also a good option with the Quick Riposte seal, as it gives him an extra layer of protection versus the powerhouse sword units.
No Sympathy (Defensive Bruiser)
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Fierce Stance 3 Alternate: Fury 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Quick Riposte 3 Alternate: Vantage 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Threaten Def 3 |
SP | 1,685 | S | Heavy Blade 3 |
- Preferred IV: +ATK / -RES
- Weapon: Ragnell
- Assist: Reposition
- Special: Aether / Draconic Aura
- Passive A: Fierce Stance / Fury / Heavy Blade
- Passive B: Quick Riposte / Vantage / Swordbreaker
- Passive C: Threaten Def / Varies
- Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Quick Riposte
This build aims to make the most of the Heavy Blade skill. To that end, this build tries to stack as much Attack as possible. Running Heavy Blade as the seal is ideal, because it opens up Ike’s A slot for stat-boosting skills like Fierce Stance or Fury. However, Ike’s base Heavy Blade A skill will work for a budget setup.
The point of Heavy Blade is to allow Ike to speed up his Special activations. This works particularly well with a high cooldown Special like his base Aether. However, Draconic Aura has a lower cooldown and can therefore be fired off more often, at the cost of the healing from Aether.
Fierce Stance grants Ike the highest boost to Attack on Enemy Phase, giving him the best chance at activating Heavy Blade. Fury is a good alternative that also allows him to go on the offensive during Player Phase. Heavy Blade in the A slot results in Ike losing out on additional stats, but can allow him to run the Quick Riposte seal, which in turn allows him to run a larger variety of B slot skills. For example, a Heavy Blade/Vantage/Quick Riposte seal setup grants Ike full skill coverage at all HP percentages.
Quick Riposte is pretty important for this setup, as Ike’s speed isn’t high enough to consistently double without it. However, not running Quick Riposte won’t be entirely crippling to this build since Ike will still have really high Attack, meaning running something like Vantage or Swordbreaker can still work well.
Introduction
Ike is a decent Distant Counter sword that has unfortunately been almost completely overshadowed by his Legendary counterpart, joining the ranks of units that have managed to powercreep themselves. Despite this, he is still a strong unit, as having Distant Counter built-in to his weapon allows him to utilize the powerful Steady Breath or Warding Breath skills to significantly speed up his Special activations.
Ike’s low Speed combined with his Distant Counter weapon means that he is strongly inclined toward an Enemy Phase setup. He functions best with team support in the form of buffs - with strong support from a unit like Brave Lucina or Marth, all of his stats can be high enough that he will be able to minimize any potential damage thanks to being able to avoid doubles while also having good defenses, all while dealing heavy damage himself.
Overall, Ike is a decent unit that can get quite strong with team support. While he is outshone by some other sword units, he is fully capable of pulling his own weight and will be a solid addition to any team.
Strengths
Ragnell
Ragnell’s Distant Counter effect allows Ike to run the powerful Steady Breath or Warding Breath skills while retaining the ability to combat ranged units, giving him strong coverage as well as a potent combat presence thanks to the sped up Special activations.
Decent Bulk
With 74 physical and 60 magical bulk, Ike can definitely take a hit or two. While his magical bulk can drop into dangerous levels if he takes a -RES IV, he will still be able to tank a hit from most green and some red mages, allowing him to take full advantage of his innate Distant Counter weapon.
Great Base Kit
Ike doesn’t actually need any Skill Inheritance to be fully functional. While he can certainly be improved with some investment, his base kit is excellent as-is.
Weaknesses
Middling Speed
Ike’s Speed is right in the awkward zone where he likely won’t be doubling most enemies, but too high to be safely considered a dump stat. Thankfully, he can improve it enough to avoid getting doubled, particularly with team support.
Overshadowed... By Himself
Unfortunately, Ike doesn’t have much going for him compared to Legendary Ike. His Legendary version has a more optimized statline, in addition to having a unique Special that is a significant improvement over regular Aether.
Low Resistance
While Ike’s HP helps fix his magical bulk, Ike’s low Resistance does make fighting mages a fairly dangerous prospect. It also makes him highly susceptible to getting crippled by Ploy debuffs.
Team Options
Counters
- Strong Blues: Ike is highly vulnerable to competent blue units, particularly if they can deal magic damage like Reinhardt, Nowi, or Lute. He is still vulnerable to physical blues too, like Ephraim, Fallen Hardin, and Lukas.
- Preventing Counters: As a primarily Enemy Phase-centric unit, Ike struggles against units that can prevent him from countering. Firesweep weapon users like Cordelia, Tana, Brave Lyn, Bridal Cordelia, and New Year Camilla all present serious issues. Ike is also vulnerable to Windsweep users like Corrin (F) or Alm.
- Ploys: Ike’s low Resistance makes him highly vulnerable to getting debuffed into oblivion by Ploys, making units like Sanaki, Micaiah, Lute, and Arvis very strong against him.
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Heavy Blade 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Atk Smoke 3 |
S | Fierce Stance 3 |
~Vanilla Radiant Hero~ (merged +1) [WIP]
OG Ike nowadays performs best as a Swordbreaker user that happens to have DC. Heavy Blade being pushed as far as it can with Fierce Stance and Atk Smoke is more so to save resources, but otherwise Steady Breath/QR/Distant Def would work more consistently.
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Heavy Blade 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Drive Def 2 |
S | Quick Riposte 3 |
With heavy blade Ike works great on both phases instead of only bait def breath builds which I like the option of him still charging his special at 2x on player phase. He loves sword breaker as B because it lets him kill any sword unit in one round making Any Meta sword units crumble and with a spur/drive speed he can tie or beat most other common sword breaker units. Drive def is just for team support and can be changed to whatever suits your team best. And seal lets him do great on def aswell, getting around all thoes pesky enemy phase skills.
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Fierce Breath |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Even Spd Wave 3 |
S | Darting Stance 3 |
Ike is an excellent choice for Fierce Breath thanks to his already high attack, making him a nuke on defense. With already high defense he can easily deal with damage from other red and green units.
Swordbreaker helps deal with Ayra, Karla & Mia as they are speedsters with devastating specials. Negating their follow ups is huge for for Ike.
Ike with a speed boon gets him to 34. A speed wave gets him to 40 and Darting Stance puts him at a solid 46, preventing many doubles while Aether helps sustain him.
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Heavy Blade 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Threaten Def 3 |
S | Quickened Pulse |
Pulled Ike on free draw from Tempest Trials. Basically completely outclasses my Seliph. Going to leave Swordbreaker for now due to his low speed, considering replacing with Vantage 3/Quick Riposte 2.
![]() |
Ragnell | A | Heavy Blade 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
![]() |
Aether | C | Threaten Def 3 |
Tank Role: With Ike having Aether as its default charge of 5, Ike plays a more defensive role, with the only skill added to his default build being Reposition, which can grant protection to other allies who are within range of being attacked.
Weapon Skills
Weapons | SP | Rng. | Mt. |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
50 | 1 | 6 |
![]() Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
100 | 1 | 8 |
![]() Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
200 | 1 | 11 |
![]() Learns by default at 5 ★ Non-Inheritable skill.
|
400 | 1 | 16 |
Special Skills
Special Skills | SP | Turns |
---|---|---|
![]() Learns by default at 5 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
100 | 3 |
![]() Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
200 | 3 |
![]() Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
500 | 5 |
Passive Skills
Passive Skills | SP | Slot |
---|---|---|
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
60 | A |
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
120 | A |
![]() Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
240 | A |
![]() Non-Inheritable by green units.
|
50 | B |
![]() Non-Inheritable by green units.
|
100 | B |
![]() Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-Inheritable by green units.
|
200 | B |
Other Info
Origin |
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
|
---|